Hit the road with me as I aim for gold

Since I’m older now, my mom and I have been looking at colleges. Now, I’m not very tall. 5’3” AND A HALF to be exact. (can’t forget that half) Most swimmers are about six feet, so that puts me at a disadvantage.

So this summer, I had to buckle down and lose some weight so I could drop the seconds off my time. There were times I had to say “NO EVEN THOUGH I REALLY WANT THAT COOKIE, I ALSO REALLY WANT TO BREAK 1:03 IN THE 100 FREE”. I had to think, “What do I want more? This cookie, or this victory?”

The victory made more sense.

Although, cookies ARE pretty good, they’re not a priority… 🙂

As a swimmer, I have to eat a lot of calories to burn during my workouts. 900 Calories a practice is a lot! That does not mean 900 calories of mac and cheese, but I’ve learned the magic food is this:

Chicken.

It makes the world go round.

If you’re on a diet, and you find yourself watching BuzzFeed Food pizza chip dip videos (like me), think about why you started the restriction in the first place. Are you trying to fit into a dress? Or are you like me, trying to perform well in something?

Whatever it is, don’t give up. 😉 I know, it’s hard. Pizza chip dip is pretty yummy. But wait. Feeling lighter in the water is way better than temporary yumminess.

Something that really helped me was drinking water. If I got full on drinking water, I didn’t want to eat. So it’s a win win. I’ve also heard it’s good for your skin.

Okay, so I know the season ended a while ago, but since it was such an exciting experience, I wanted to tell you all about it!

The first meet went pretty well. We swam at a Division 1 college in the 50 meter pool. I had never done something like that, and it was my first time swimming 50 meters instead of yards. It was different, but really exciting.

My events were the 50m free, 100m free, 200m IM, and the 100m Breast. This was also my first time swimming the 200 IM EVER in a meet! As it turns out, I didn’t do that bad. After all, I had only been practicing for a week, as it was very early in the season.

After that, I swam at another college in my state, and surprised myself AGAIN in the 50m pool. I dropped TEN SECONDS in my 200m IM, and I couldn’t wait to tell my coaches when I saw them next. They were surprised. So much so that they put me in the 200 IM on my own team.

At Rec Championships, I swam the 200 yd IM. I placed fifth, and I got a best time 🙂

In my 100 free, my coaches and I have been trying really hard to drop my time to break 1:04. I am pleased to say that I broke that time with a shocking 1:03.58!! That’s a total of 2:06 seconds!

This past week, I’ve been preparing for the next season. Through watching videos of Olympic races, I’ve learned that the race could be in one person’s favor, but another person can come up from behind and win by .01! We can’t give up. We can’t slow down. No matter where we are in that race, we have to keep going.

But the best part of the summer season was the people that I got to chill with. I felt so welcomed into both USS and Rec this year, it was incredible. Now, I’ve had some problems with my peers, and I’ve blogged a little bit about it over the years, but this season was different. Walking into a meet and people saying “Audg! You’re here! Hi!” and giving you a big hug is like:

I felt encouraged and welcomed into the clan of people that I call my friends. They support me, and I shall try my hardest to support them in their races and goals. I learn so much from them, and have been many times I’ve said “DUDE HOW DO YOU GO THAT FAST??”

So, my friends, keep going. You got this. 🙂

Have you ever had a time when you had to force yourself to keep going? Is that time now?

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” -1 Cor 9:24